Museum documentation of operational US built diesel submarines in Turkey

Turkey has the only two operational Tang Class submarines in the world.
Both ex-USS Tang (SS-563), and ex-USS Gudgeon (SS-567) were first
commissioned in 1951 and 1953 and were sold to Turkey in the early 1980s.
These are the 3rd and 4th oldest working US submarines (The oldest are
in Taiwan).
Although only a few Tang class boats were built, they where important
boats. The Tang class was the first new class
of submarines designed and built by the USA after World War II
and they incorporated the lessons learned from the remarkably successful fleet
submarines.
They became the prototypes for the first three classes of US nuclear submarines.

There are numerous sights and
sounds unique to these submarines that will be lost forever when these last
two boats are retired. For security reasons, very little color film has been
created of
the interior operations of these boats, and almost no sound recordings.
During 2003/2004, we requested and received permission to
document these historic boats.

With the generous cooperation of the Turkish Navy, in January of 2004,
volunteers Carl Nolte
and Rich Pekelney visited
Turkey to document the historic boats. We were given unprecedented access to
the boats, including the opportunity to take photographs and video. All
the photos and video were subjected to security review by the Navy, none was
deleted or modified.

We are very thankful to the Turkish Navy. Everyone we worked with
exceeded all reasonable expectations at every step of the process. The level of
cooperation was extraordinary. The high level of professionalism, skill and
spirit of the officers and crew was matched only by their hospitality,
flexibility and "can do" attitude. The fine material condition of these 50+
year old vessels is a testament to the care they have received from there crews and
shipyards.

Both submarines are used primarily for special operations missions, they are also
used for mining. The spirit of the crew, the "soul" of the boat is as strong
now as ever. The crews of both boats feel their 50+ year old boats are well
suited to their missions. We learned during the visit that Hizirries is
expecting orders for decommissioning sometime very soon. We experienced the passion
her crew has for her when they expressed their opinion that she should get new batteries
and be kept operational for another 10 years.

On 14 Jan 04, we also took a quick visit to TCG Gayret (D352), ex-USS
Eversole (DD-789)
a 1946 built Gearing class (FRAM upgrade) destroyer. She was operated by
the Turkish Navy
from 1973 until 1995. She is now a museum in
Izmit, Turkey. This is about 1.5 hours from Istanbul, and very close to the
Naval base at Gulcuk.
http://maritime.org/turkey/eversole/index.htm